Lorist tiptoed up behind her and followed her line of sight. Huh? He couldn't help letting out a soft sound of surprise. Beneath the silver moonlight, a rounded hill rose in the distance, its green grass swaying gently. Several white deer were leaping and frolicking in the moonlight, like a group of white spirits.
When Ilina noticed Lorist behind her, she jolted with a violent shudder, her petite body trembling uncontrollably once more…
Lorist wrapped his arms around the quivering little maid and pulled her into his embrace, laughing softly. "Am I really so frightening? It's not as though I'm going to eat you — what are you trembling for? Oh, and why are there white deer on that hill? How strange."
Little Ilina trembled in Lorist's embrace for a while before she finally steadied, leaning against his chest as if resigned to her fate. When she heard his question, she stammered an answer. "Th-that's White Deer Hill. Whenever the Silver Moon hangs high in the sky, white deer always appear there. B-before, some people from the family tried to capture them. They lay in ambush on the hill for days but never saw a single deer. The white deer only showed up after they left. So everyone in the family says these deer are the pets of the Silver Moon Goddess Daflyn, and that we mortals can never catch them — just being able to see them is already a tremendous blessing."
Lorist lowered his head and planted a gentle kiss on Ilina's cheek. "You did well with your errands this afternoon, Ilina. Keep it up tomorrow. Go to bed first tonight — I still have some matters to take care of in the study."
…
Lorist was jolted awake once more by that monotonous, ear-piercing sound of sawing. He reached out and felt beside him — empty. The maid Ilina had gotten up at some point and must have gone downstairs. Lorist rolled out of bed, dressing as he made his way to the window, and peered down. Sure enough, that bastard son of his father's cook, Edvork, was sawing wood again. But what struck Lorist as odd was that yesterday the boy had been sawing a wooden plank — why had he switched to a tree stump today?
Lorist first went to check on Beruneke. Seeing that his color was good, he felt relieved. He took the man's pulse, exchanged a few words, and instructed the tall maid to take good care of him, then took up his sword and headed downstairs. In the courtyard below, four guards were already at their morning training. The corporal named Mos, a
Lorist nodded to them, walked over to the nearby well, drew a bucket of water to wash his face and rinse his mouth, and was about to begin his morning exercises when he noticed Edvork glancing at Mos and the others with envy even as he sawed away…
Lorist walked over and pointed at Mos's group. "You want to be like them too?"
Edvork glanced at Lorist, saying nothing, only desperately speeding up the rhythm of his sawing…
"By the way, you've been sawing wood every day — what are you trying to make?" Lorist asked.
"Not trying to make anything," Edvork answered in a nasal voice. "I need the sawdust."
"Sawdust? What for?" Lorist asked, curious.
"To eat. We mix it into the flour and make bread," Edvork said.
"Mix it into flour to make bread?" Lorist's head spun. What was that supposed to mean? Sawdust was edible? Who had come up with this idea? And why hadn't he ever found any sawdust in his own bread?
"Hold on, stop sawing. Whoever told you to do this, go fetch them so they can explain," Lorist ordered, halting Edvork's work.
Warehouse Steward Sper soon appeared before Lorist. "My lord, this is a family tradition. Over a hundred years ago, the
"So from then on, the family established the position of wood-sawyer, whose sole purpose is to provide sawdust for bread-making," Steward Sper added.
"Then why is there no sawdust in the bread I eat?" Lorist asked.
"My lord, of course the bread you eat doesn't contain sawdust. The sawdust bread is only distributed to the guards and servants," Steward Sper replied.
"Damn. Back then food was scarce — mixing in sawdust was a measure of last resort. Now the family's grain is so plentiful it's going moldy, and you're still mixing sawdust into the flour? That's sheer madness. Steward Sper, pass on my order: from today on, no sawdust or other rubbish is to be mixed into the flour. Bake the bread properly. Let the family's guards and servants eat their fill and eat well — only then can they do their work. Oh, and Edvork — your position as wood-sawyer is abolished. You no longer need to saw for sawdust." Lorist made his decision.
"My lord, this… this goes against tradition…" Steward Sper objected.
"Any questions?" Lorist asked.
"N-no, my lord, no questions at all. I will carry out your instructions without fail." Steward Sper bowed his head respectfully.
Lorist stroked his chin. "Still, we as descendants cannot forget the glory of our ancestors. Here's what we'll do, Steward Sper: find out the exact date of that siege victory. From now on, on that date each year, we will all eat a loaf of bread mixed with sawdust as a commemoration. That way we will never forget the great glory our forebears achieved. How does that sound?"
"My lord, your decision is most wise." Steward Sper bowed deeply.
"What about me? What do I do?" The now-unemployed Edvork stood there at a loss.
"Report to the guard squad. You've got a solid frame — it would be a waste not to make you a family soldier. I'll be guiding the guards in awakening their
Edvork scratched his head, thought for a moment, and replied, "A-all right. I'll work hard."
…
That afternoon Lorist went to the muster camp of the two newly formed guard squads, which was set up in a plaza beside the vineyard behind the manor castle. Steward Hansk was already waiting there — he had picked out twelve former family soldiers and was conducting basic drill for the two squads.
Lorist nodded. "Sir Pachiko, give me a rundown of the slave camp."
"My lord, the slave camp has three hundred and eighty-two able-bodied men, of whom sixty-seven have already awakened Combat Force, plus two hundred and forty-four family dependents. All their belongings are packed. Where would my lord have us go?" Pachiko said.
"There's no rush — we'll set out in two more days," Lorist said. "By the way, Steward Hansk, I recall that our family doesn't have a practice of keeping slaves. Where did these slaves come from?"
Steward Hansk smiled bitterly. "My lord, in truth they haven't really been treated as slaves here. They were originally brought in by the Eldest Young Master years ago during his military campaigns. Ask Sir Pachiko — he himself was captured by the Eldest Young Master and arrived at our manor castle along with these slaves."
Pachiko nodded. "Yes. Most of them, like me, were prisoners of war from the civil war. When I was captured, the Eldest Young Master told me he wanted to bring these slaves back to rebuild a town in the territory, and then release them to become our subjects. That's why the Eldest Young Master paid special attention to prisoners who had families — many were even exchanged with other nobles for that reason. He said that with families, the prisoners would put down roots in the territory. The original plan was to start building the town once he had gathered around three thousand people, but he passed away sooner than anyone expected…"
Steward Hansk said, "My lord, after the Eldest Young Master's passing we didn't know what to do with these slaves. Over the past few years they've done farm work at the manor castle, picked grapes, and so on. The rest of the time they were quite free — as long as they stayed in their camp and didn't cause trouble in the manor castle, we basically left them alone. On the contrary, we had to provide them with food and clothing. Later, old Steward Kreis felt that letting them run too wild wasn't a good idea, so he entrusted their management to Sir Pachiko."
"If that's the case, then from now on don't call them the slave camp. Treat them as our subjects and improve their food and lodging," Lorist said.
"Also, I realized I made some mistakes when assigning tasks yesterday. I was too hasty — I was so focused on reorganizing the family's armed forces that I overlooked the fact that the manor castle also needs labor for its daily operations. That was my error. Here's what we'll do: Steward Hansk, please conduct a fresh census. First, calculate how many workers are needed to keep the manor castle running day to day — including the people under Sir Pachiko's management this time. Then count how many able-bodied men and their families are available to join the newly formed guard squads. That way we'll know how many surplus people there are in the manor castle. I plan to relocate all of them to the construction site at Morgan Hills — that place will be one of the family's key strongholds going forward."
"Sir Pachiko, assist Steward Hansk. Merge the awakened fighters among your people with the original guard force of forty-odd men, then add in the awakened fighters from the two new squads to form a new guard unit of a hundred and twenty men under your command. As for the original guards, pull out the veterans over forty and assign them as instructors to train those two new squads. Starting tomorrow, I will teach the two squads the method of Combat Force awakening. Even those who haven't joined the squads but want to learn — don't stop them. After I've trained them all, I'll pick out suitable candidates for the guard squads. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!" Pachiko snapped to attention.
Steward Hansk thought it over for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
Over the next two days Lorist was busy beyond belief. One by one, he took the pulse of every able-bodied man in the manor castle who was willing and hoping to awaken Combat Force. He then divided the four hundred-odd men into more than twenty small groups and entrusted them to over twenty veterans for training. Lorist also drafted tailored training regimens and dietary guidelines for each group according to the members' physical condition, and put Sir Pachiko in charge of strict supervision. By the time Lorist finished, the convoy escorted by Josk and Pat had also arrived at the manor castle.
There were twenty thousand imperial silver coins, one hundred barrels of rubber-vine sap, over seven hundred pieces of assorted leather armor, a hundred and seventy suits of chain mail, and more than a thousand weapons.
Lorist embraced Josk warmly and asked about the construction site at Morgan Hills. Josk said everything was going smoothly — Miss Tresti had already had the slave laborers begin digging the moat and building the walls. There was nothing to worry about on that front.
Josk asked Lorist what he was to do at the manor castle this time around. Lorist told him to rest first, and in two days he would escort a batch of personnel and provisions back to the Morgan Hills construction site. Lorist would be heading back with him as well. But before leaving, he needed to get everything in order here. For now, let's go take a look at those surrendered mercenaries.